Zak Gilsenan and Harley O’Grady-Macken scored the goals as Blackburn Rovers beat Fulham’s under 21s 2-1 on a rainy evening at Motspur Park. Adrion Pajaziti reduced the home side’s arrears from the penalty spot with seven minutes to play, but that goal proved too little too left as the Whites were unable to salvage anything from the fixture.

Fulham began brightly in the teeming rain with Pajaziti forcing visiting goalkeeper Nicholas Michalski into a smart save, but Blackburn were always a threat on the counter-attack. The dangerous Gilsenan was denied by Alex Borto after Fulham’s American goalkeeper dashed off his goal-line to save a one-on-one but the Rovers wide man made no mistake three minutes later after latching onto a precise pass from Dominik Biniek.

Borto then did brilliantly to prevent Biniek from putting Rovers 2-0 ahead and it took a while for Fulham to recover from the setback of going a goal down. A crunching challenge from George Okkas set up a break but Kristian Šekularac, fresh from being on the first team bench at Burnley last week, was thwarted by a good save from Michalski. At the other end, Borto made a magnificent one-handed stop to keep out an effort from the lively Biniek.

Fulham came very close to levelling matters in the final five minutes of the first half. Some smart footwork from Luciano D’Auria-Henry saw the right back work some space for a shot in the area that flew just wide before Okkas hit the woodwork after heading Stefan Parkes’ ball towards goal at the near post.

Any hopes of continuing that pressure after the interval melted away when O’Grady-Macken was left unattended to turn home a free-kick from Charlie Weston seven minutes into the second half. Blackburn were disciplined in defence, initially forcing Fulham into long-range efforts like a shot from Matt Dibley-Dias that was bravely blocked by a pair of Rovers defenders.

Substitute Imani Lanquedoc almost made an immediate impact off the bench but his chip over the goalkeeper was well saved by Michalski, who was only beaten from the penalty spot by Pajaziti after Okkas had been brought down in the box. The home side pushed for a late leveller but Aaron Loupalo-Bi’s long-range effort curled wide – and Mike Sheron’s side held on for a deserved victory.

FULHAM UNDER 21s (4-3-3): Borto; D’Auria-Henry (McAvoy 63), Parkes (McCoy-Splatt 55), Avenall (Gordon 76), Araujo; Okkas, Dibley-Dias (Lanquedoc 63), Pajaziti; Šekularac, Works, Loupalo-Bi. Subs (not used): McNally.

BOOKED: Dibley-Dias.

GOAL: Pajaziti (pen 83).

BLACKBURN ROVERS (4-4-2): Michalski; Haddow, Olsen, Atchesen, Gamble; Weston, O’Grady-Macken, Duru, Gilsenan; Finneran (Bell 76), Biniek (Caddick 83). Subs (not used): Doherty, Powell, Khan.

BOOKED: Gamble.

GOALS: Gilsenan (16), O’Grady-Macken (52).

REFEREE: Paul Johnson.